Washington (CNN) - Martin O’Malley will mingle with a handful of early primary state power brokers next week at a closed-door Washington fundraiser for a top South Carolina Democrat.

The Maryland governor, who has been candid about his inclination to seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, has signed on to co-host the May 14 Capitol Hill fundraiser for South Carolina lieutenant governor candidate Bakari Sellers, a Democratic source in the state told CNN.

Sellers, a 29-year-old African-American state legislator, is the son of a local civil rights legend and an up-and-comer in state Democratic politics. He also worked for Barack Obama’s victorious 2008 primary effort in South Carolina, one of the four leadoff presidential nominating states. In other words, he’s precisely the kind of person a potential candidate would like to have on his (or her) side in a primary campaign.

But O’Malley will also have the chance to connect with several other South Carolina Democratic notables on the host committee, including former Gov. Jim Hodges, state party chairman Jaime Harrison, former Obama administration official Anton Gunn and Yelberton Watkins, the chief of staff to Rep. James Clyburn.

Al From, the founder of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council and a longtime associate of former President Bill Clinton, is also slated to attend the cocktail fundraiser, which will be held at the Capitol Hill home of Democratic political strategist John Jameson.

O’Malley, who has maintained a busy travel schedule campaigning for Democratic gubernatorial candidates this election cycle, will be in South Carolina later this week, attending his daughter’s college graduation and holding a campaign event with Vincent Sheheen, the state’s Democratic nominee for governor.

Vice President Joe Biden will also visit South Carolina on Friday, delivering the University of South Carolina commencement speech and squeezing in a fundraiser for the state Democratic Party.

If O’Malley decides to seek the Democratic nomination in 2016 against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, or Biden, he would enter the race as an underdog.

But at this stage of the so-called invisible primary, O’Malley has not been shy about introducing himself to early state power brokers. He’s been far more aggressive than Clinton in courting early primary state activists, officials and donors in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada – and in states that have competitive gubernatorial races in 2014.

soundoff(6 Responses)

much thunder...little rain

no more bushes no more clintons ...someone new

May 7, 2014 01:22 pm at 1:22 pm |

Tommy G

This idiot wasted $193 MILLION on Maryland's botched Obamacare website and the Feds are investigating. Yeah, he'd make the perfect Democrat candidate, totally incompetent and a crook, just like the current occupant of the White House.

May 7, 2014 01:26 pm at 1:26 pm |

The Elephant in the Room

The Democratic candidate doesnt matter as much as the message . . . and the NEGATIVE branding of the GOP that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz aught to be doing at the DNCC.
Because Republicans are so close to BIG BUSINESS and special interest money, because their PRIMARY articulation of economic ploicy WILL ALWAYS boil down to "tax cuts for job creators" [or whatever word salad they want to put around "trickle-down economics"], because they cannot win unless they get the massess of the aging white working class to vote AGAINST THEIR OWN SELF INTEREST, Democrats should be pouring CONCRETE around the feet of the Republicans. They should be branding the GOP to a 40 year swath of voters as anti-middle class. There should be a Senatorial vote on raising the minimum wage to force one in the House. When the GOP[predictably] fights against it, take names and call individuals and THE PARTYout. Some voters may be persuadeably to oppose the ACA [even though it helps them] but I doubt they can be FOOLED to look beyond an increase in pay for their household incomes; especially when the GOPs hand would be all over it. Go for the jugular Democrats.

Never mind 50 repeal obamacare votes, or Christie's special election, very important to spend whatever it takes they're, yup, your a genius alright!

May 7, 2014 01:52 pm at 1:52 pm |

anonymous

That's right... we know the Obama-Democrat approach of taxing and regulating companies to death is just working wonders for our economy and jobs. Democrat Party staganant economy and minimal job growth sure doesn't sound like a plan for the future of America.

May 7, 2014 02:23 pm at 2:23 pm |

Rudy NYC

anonymous

That's right... we know the Obama-Democrat approach of taxing and regulating companies to death is just working wonders for our economy and jobs. Democrat Party staganant economy and minimal job growth sure doesn't sound like a plan for the future of America.
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The only problem with your claims is that they are not true. True, the Obama administration has signed consumer protections into law in a couple of industries, banking and health care. The banking industry needed some regulation after the Wall Street crash. I, for one, am not someone who subscribes to the idea of completely unregulated capitalism.